Regrets

Gareth Bacon MP: What do you think has been your biggest regret as Mayor?

The Mayor: What I regret the most is that we’ve had the most anti-London Government in history.

The Past Four Years

Peter Whittle: What do you consider to be this Assembly’s greatest achievement over the past four years and why?

The Mayor: The London Assembly plays a vital role in holding me to account and scrutinising the work of City Hall on behalf of Londoners. I also applaud the detailed investigations that are undertaken, which have brought to the fore key issues of importance for the city. For example, the Environment Committee report on ‘Bottled Water’ highlighted the growing problem of plastic waste and helped inform our work to reduce single use plastic bottles, the report ‘London’s lost youth services’ which showed the impact of Government cuts on youth services since 2011, the report ‘Gang Associated Girls’ highlighting the need to support young women at risk of joining a gang, and using your powers to bring back the former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to answer questions about the waste of millions of pounds of taxpayers money on the failed Garden Bridge project.

Broken promises

Susan Hall: Do you regret the promises you’ve broken during your term as Mayor?

The Mayor: I am proud that we have managed to deliver on my promises to make London a fairer, greener and more affordable city.
On transport, I am delivering on my promise to make transport more affordable for millions of Londoners by freezing TfL fares for four years and by introducing the unlimited Hopper bus fare.
On the environment, I am delivering on my promise to make tackling air pollution and climate change a key priority. And I’m proud that we’re taking the boldest action of any major city in the world, which is already making a huge difference.
On housing, we have started to fix the housing crisis, building more council homes last year than in any year since 1984. We have also given residents the right to a vote on estate regeneration plans, and we’ve doubled our homelessness outreach teams.
And on keeping Londoners safe, I am delivering on my promise to be both tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime – working to deal with the terrible rise in violent crime that’s been caused by the Government’s huge cuts.
I have also made over 250 Mayoral commitments to the Assembly since becoming Mayor, and I’ve kept and delivered on every single one.
I am proud of my record as the Mayor of London and I am proud of the promises we have kept. I will continue standing up for Londoners and I will do everything in my power to steer London out of this public health crisis.

LED Street Lighting (1)

David Kurten: In your budget (section 6.2) you stated that you would be retrofitting lighting to ‘energy efficient LEDs’. What will be the total cost of this and what do envisage will be the annual cost saving?

The Mayor: Each light unit in LED street lighting saves Transport for London (TfL) around £105 for energy consumption and £11 in maintenance costs each year. There are also additional carbon reduction benefits, with TfL estimating its LED lighting has saved approximately 56 tonnes of carbon in 2019/20 and 139 tonnes in 2020/21.
Given the COVID-19 outbreak and its impacts it is not currently possible to confirm roll out plans.

BBC television license

Tony Devenish: Following MoJ 2017 data that 30% of all female prosecutions are BBC television license for so called "evasion", when the equivalent male figure is 4%, is it time to decriminalise this unwanted tax, which is unfair to Londoners?

The Mayor: Since the start of the pandemic, the BBC has been a vital source of news for the public by providing entertainment for viewers at home, as well as stepping up their education and health services during the lockdown.I will continue to monitor ongoing developments with interest as we await the findings from the Government consultation on ‘decriminalising TV licence evasion’.

Deputy Mayor Interests

Andrew Boff: In light of the revelations that your Night Czar personally received GLA grant funding, will you now undertake a review of all your Deputy Mayors and advisors to ensure that there have not been, nor will there be, repeat instances of this, and to ensure that their declarations of interest are maintained accurately and kept up-to-date?

The Mayor: My team declare their interests in the Standing Register of Interests in line with requirements set out by the Greater London Authority (GLA).That information can be found here: https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/governance-and-spending/good-governance/register-interests

Building on Tube Stations in Kensington and Chelsea

Tony Devenish: Given TfL’s plans to redevelop the area around South Kensington station, will the Mayor direct TfL to conduct feasibility studies on brownfield sites above other Tube and rail stations in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in particular Earl’s Court station, to determine their suitability for redevelopment?

The Mayor: Under my administration, Transport for London (TfL) is using its land to create thousands of affordable homes that London desperately needs while generating millions of pounds to reinvest into the transport network.
At Earls Court, TfL is now working with Delancey to bring forward a new, sustainable, community-focused masterplan that will deliver hundreds more additional affordable homes alongside a wide range of local benefits.
TfL has undertaken high-level feasibility studies on its landholdings across the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and this has identified an opportunity at Holland Road alongside the sites at South Kensington and Earls Court.

Fare Evasion

Navin Shah: Further toMQ 2016/2153andMQ 2017/4488, please provide an updated table containing figures for 2017, 2018 & 2019. Please provide the data in excel format.

The Mayor: As part of its Revenue Protection Programme, Transport for London (TfL) is revising its methodology for calculating revenue loss. This will provide a more accurate, consistent and comparable measure of revenue loss across the different networks. This work is close to completion, but has been delayed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, and a focus on safety critical activities.
TfL will provide you with this updated data once the methodology is finalised.

Wrongful Prosecutions by TfL

Jennette Arnold: How many TfL users have been wrongfully prosecuted by TfL, if any, as a result of TfL mishandling passenger data?

The Mayor: To the best of its knowledge, there have been no passengers wrongly prosecuted by TfL as a result of it mishandling the data of passengers.
Please also see my response to Mayor’s Question 2020/1247.

Adult Learners

Susan Hall: Please can you provide the number of Aault learners in London over the past 5 years, breaking down their gender, age, ethnicity and borough?

The Mayor: Adult Education data broken down by gender, age, ethnicity and borough are only available in the current academic year. The time series available (with fewer breakdowns) can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fe-data-library-help-for-finding-data

Grown-up politics

Siân Berry: How can we in City Hall make political debate more grown up?

The Mayor: By working together during this global pandemic to work in the best interests of all Londoners.

Bus Network Safety Performance Index (2)

Caroline Pidgeon: Will you undertake to respond to Questions 2019/20679 and 2019/20680 before the pre-election period?

The Mayor: As stated in my response to Mayor’s Questions 2019/20679 and 2019/20680 this request requires Transport for London (TfL) to search for and review a high volume of archived emails and documents, a task for which some of the staff involved have since left TfL. This has been further affected by the ongoing coronavirus situation. TfL will provide a response to you directly in due course.

London Talent

Susan Hall: What steps have you taken to reduce the ‘wasteful and ineffective’ use of talent in London mentioned in your Economic Development Strategy?

The Mayor: I want to make London a fairer city by ensuring that all Londoners get access to the opportunities that our city gave to me when I was growing up. I have used new powers under the devolved Adult Education Budget to increase funding to low-income Londoners to help them upskill and transition into higher paid jobs. I have also allocated £7.5 million to initiatives that support unemployed or underemployed parents to find work or progress into higher paid jobs.
I have tackled inequalities that Londoners face by launching an Employment Rights Hub to help Londoners understand their rights at work and access the support they need to enforce them. I have also launched the Our Time programme with a practical toolkit for how other London employers can support women into leadership roles. My Workforce Integration Network (WIN) improves pathways for underrepresented groups in the workplace, starting with supporting young black men into living wage employment.

Achievements

Gareth Bacon MP: What do you think has been your greatest achievement as Mayor?

The Mayor: Please see my response to Mayor’s Question 2020/1152.

Mayoral appointments

Tony Arbour: Do you have any regrets regarding your decisions on Mayoral appointments?

The Mayor: Please see my answer to Mayor’s Question 2019/20254.

Data Management and TfL

Jennette Arnold: How have TfL processes changed to ensure that there is robust oversight of data management?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) takes its responsibility to uphold privacy and data protection very seriously. It handles large volumes of data and is very conscious that even one error can have significant consequences for its customers. To uphold good data protection and management, TfL’s Inspectors and other staff that handle personal data undertake assessed annual training on data protection where their own data handling responsibilities are highlighted.
I’ve been reassured that all enforcement staff at TfL working in the Compliance, Policing and Security directorate also complete a bespoke annual course. This expands on the pan-TfL course and course content is updated regularly to reflect any learning from data breaches.
Please also see my response to Mayor’s Question 2020/1246.

Independent Audit of TfL Response to Complaints

Jennette Arnold: In 2015 TfL committed to an independent audit of its response to complaints which was due to be reported on to the Assembly. Please provide details of this audit including the date when it was presented to the Assembly.

The Mayor: An independent review of Transport for London’s (TfL) complaint handling was carried out in 2015 by a company called The Foundation, the report was published on 10 December 2015 and can be read in full via this link:http://content.tfl.gov.uk/sasp-20151210-part-1-item12-review-of-complaint-handling.pdf
This review was driven via the pan TfL Customer Group and was fed back directly by The Foundation.